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High Notes, Vol 10 No 32, October 02 2009From the Principal
High Talent
School Uniform Policy
The Policy on Lines
Year 12 Farewell Good afternoon to all the parents, staff and family who have come to share our Farewell Assembly for Year 12, 2009. On this special day, we celebrate the ceremonial completion of secondary schooling by reminiscing about the people who featured in our lives, the experiences we enjoyed, the challenges we faced and the disappointments we endured. Our Year 12 students often have mixed feelings about leaving something known, comfortable and structured and facing something uncertain and open ended yet to come. These days evoke strong emotions of needing to seize the moment. We provide a booklet to preserve your before and after images, as well as to express our best wishes, you take away your experiences of the years and a sizable number of group photographs. I believe Year 12, 2009 has many accomplishments to be proud of. I predict that the cohort's overall academic results will be on a par with last year's good ones. You boys were the first at High to experience a senior library facility. You have led the way in cooperative learning. I urge you to persist with your collaborative efforts in the weeks ahead. Year 12, 2009 has delivered the best all round sports performance seen by High for a long time. In GPS competition the performances of teams in basketball, volleyball, football and cricket were excellent. Athletics continues to improve as a sport that High can compete in with success. Our rifle shooting team won a co-premiership. Rugby won a first grade match. At CHS competition High had great individual and team successes in a variety of sports, headed up by volleyball regaining its CHS knockout title. The class of 2009 will be remembered for having two Australian schools representatives – Spencer Llewellyn in basketball and Balraj Ougra in volleyball. Congratulations to all Year 12 boys who contributed to the successes enjoyed by High sports this year. I want to thank the School Prefects and their leaders, Pat, Clive and Nelson; they have served you well. You were the first group of Prefects to have to earn their badges by doing their duties satisfactorily over several terms. The intern system worked well and produced positive benefits in school service and better compliance with canteen responsibilities. This year's cohort has displayed great ‘High Spirit'. Support for our teams, even under sometimes trying circumstances has been unwavering. I congratulate the eighty-one boys who engaged in two seasons of GPS sport, your commitment is a credit to you. In particular, I want to draw attention to the ‘triple firsts' listed in my Principal's Message – Alasdair, Sam Higgins, Kerrod, Shahar and Matthew. Your dedication to training, travelling, competing and balancing studies and life, is most impressive. Likewise, we applaud the efforts of the ‘double firsts'- Alexander, Sam Burnham, Justin, Stephen, Jeremy, Harrison, Jackson, Kent and Nelson. Thank you to the ‘one-two club' members – Sam Binns, Clive, Simon, Ritam, Jason, Balraj, Avish, and Jack. Well done Neil – our sole ‘double –two' for the year. The foundation of our sporting performances is the group of athletes prepared to compete in multiple sports. I hope to look back on 2009 as the start of the rebuilding of rugby at High. I really appreciate the efforts made by all involved with rugby to cope with the amalgamation with SGS and the disruptions to the fixtures caused by the agreement. I apologise for the length of time it took to get our home games played at McKay. The year 2009 will be seen as the turning point year, when High started to take fitness, physical preparation and training more seriously. It is the year of the logbook. Most GPS sports have taken responsibility as teams for the strength and fitness of their members. Individuals are now accountable for what they do to prepare themselves for competition. Our school will perform better as a result of this change in culture, pioneered by the class of 2009. I want to thank all the Year 12 leaders in co-curricular activities. In music performance, debating, SRC, community service and all the activities that make our school so dynamic, thank you for being such good role models. In saying farewell to the class of 2009 I want you to consider the words of the major English poet Phillip Larkin, who discussed the differences between his assumptions about what should happen with his life and that those of a university friend, Dockery. …"Where do these Innate assumptions come from? Not from what We think truest, or most want to do: Those warp tight-shut, like doors. They're more a style Our lives bring with them: habit for a while, Suddenly they harden into all we've got And how we got it; …" Much of what you are now was ‘tight shut' in you when you came here. Your personalities, beliefs and attitudes you carried into Year 7. We hope to have affected your assumptions about the world and its people in your years at High. Your teachers have exposed you to a range of concepts, taught you skills and built your capacity to make informed choices, evaluations and judgements. Teachers and students model behaviours and cooperate to serve you and others in ways that might influence you. We hope that the training in thinking and feeling instilled in you by teachers here, 'how you got it', shapes you positively as people, capable of growing and influencing others. In a sense, you will become your choices, you will live your assumptions. They will become ‘the style of your lives'. One of the great benefits of education is to give individuals the capacity to always question assumptions – theirs and others. I trust your experiences of the total curriculum offered at High have equipped you for further education in its widest sense. As Larkin observed about life: ‘whether or not we use it, it goes'. You have an opportunity to use the next few weeks of your lives very profitably by chasing your academic goals. When your schooling is over I am most confident that you will all use your lives well. High alumni have a reputation for doing so.
I am honoured to have been your Principal while you prepared yourselves for the
future. Canteen AGM
Sydney Boys High School Canteen Committee The Canteen Committee will hold its Annual General Meeting in the Boardroom on Friday, 23 October 2009 at 2.45 pm. All office bearer positions are declared vacant and available for nomination and election. We look forward to welcoming all interested parents. Christina Chow SHS Old Boys' Union
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF THE RECORD This year marks the 100th anniversary of "The Record" – the magazine of the Sydney Boys' High School – which was first published in December 1909. To commemorate this milestone, "High Notes" is publishing a selection of editorials from the various editions published over the past century. This week we are publishing the editorial from the issue of September 1914. World War I had just commenced in August 1914. From then, until November 1918, over 600 old boys enlisted in the conflict. This represented more than one in five of all those who had been enrolled from 1883 until 1918. Of these, one in ten did not return. The Editor for this issue was Raymond Newton Kershaw, who went on to be awarded the Military Cross for service with the AIF in France. After the war, he studied at Oxford, as a Rhodes scholar and, having served as a member of the secretariat for the League of Nations, became economic adviser to the Governors of the Bank of England, 1929-1953.
Editorial It is a time of self-denial – this of war – and it is fitting that we, as a school, should have our share in the general renunciation. Of what sacrifices we have made, let us say "It was our duty," nay, more, "It was our privilege"; of what unknown, and perhaps greater sacrifices may come, let us say, not only it is our duty, not only it is our privilege, but that it is our opportunity of fulfilling those obligations to our country and Empire, to which a thousand material kindnesses have given birth. The time has come to show that patriotism consists, not in empty demonstration, but in willingness to give freely of our best, in eagerness to work strenuously for success, in calmness to meet success or reverse. Our part, as a school, cannot be a very great one in this universal outburst of national feeling; but it is none the less a part. What we do, let us do thoroughly; what we give, let us give ungrudgingly; what we sacrifice, let us sacrifice uncomplainingly; and, if circumstances prevent us rendering any great material assistance, we must remember that there is a fund to which we can all contribute, and all in equal measure. We can all pour our heart's richest feelings into the great treasury of national consciousness; we can spread abroad the uncounted gold of a cheerful forbearance, of a calm confidence, of optimism, of patience under difficulties, should they arise. Such a treasury of true patriotism is as necessary as that other more tangible evidence of patriotic feeling. And while we have done, and will continue to do, our material part, it is into that other vaster fund that our richest offering must be poured, unrecognised perhaps, yet none the less effective, merged in the common inpouring, yet none the less having its influence on the whole. Let us realise that it behoves each one to cherish and to nourish in his heart the instincts of true patriotism – to cherish and to nourish – not vauntingly, yet proudly; not ostentatiously, yet openly; not boastfully, yet confidently – to the upholding of the honourable traditions of this school, this country, and this Empire.
SHS Old Boys' Union From the Andrews Library
SMH Subscription
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD FOR THE YEAR
For an extra $10, you can have Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun-Herald delivered to your school each Monday during the school year.
Open Day Strictly Amateur Chess Competition The winner was: Sai Vimulanathan Year 7 who played a close game with Anthony Xu from Year 10. Well done to Edric Wong (7), Krishna Visvaa (7) who played out the semis. Big thanks to Jacob Cao and Charley Peng Year 12 who supervised beautifully off the cuff.
Reminder Its Holidays – so Borrow! Borrow! Borrow! And Read! Read! Read! Senior Library
What's Up in the Senior Library The Senior Library has been operating since the beginning of the year and provides a space and tools to help senior students research, read, discuss, and at times relax. I am looking to further enhance access to good quality resources by developing the online resources and providing improved access to the terrific resources we already have available and to provide links to other useful resources also available outside SBHS libraries. Currently within the library students have access to magazines and newspapers as well as online access to Library Enquiry and the Internet. Recently we have started adding top quality reviewed and relevant websites to the library catalogue. Students should check these out when doing their assignments and research by just clicking on the links which come up when searching. They will eventually be listed under subjects they relate to so that they are easily accessible. When a student uses Library Enquiry (Library catalogue) to search for information many different kinds of materials including websites, books, DVDs etc will be listed giving quality information resources. Good quality research does not come from use of Wikipedia alone. Especially as the information listed in this website can be edited by anyone and is generally not authoritative ("Of acknowledged accuracy or excellence; highly reliable" from Answers.com). Finally I would like to wish all Year 12 students the very best for their final days at SBHS and in the HSC. To support you in your studies and preparation for the examinations the Board of Studies has prepared an excellent web resource called NSW Students Online. You will need to login to this URL: for access to past HSC exam papers, course syllabuses, instant multiple choice quizzes and more. You can also find the Board of Studies link for other useful resources in Library Enquiry through the school links to sites listed in the school Intranet.
I have enjoyed my first term at Sydney Boys High and looking forward to getting to know more
students, teachers and staff in term 4. Enjoy the break and I hope to see many of you in the
Senior Library next term. 2009 Creative Problem Solving Competition
Open to all Mid Primary to junior Secondary Students in NSW, VIC, QLD & WA This year the competition will be held on Saturday 24th October 2009 12.45pm – 1.45pm and is divided into six age groups for Year 3 through to Year 8 students Aim: To provide a challenging and exciting opportunity for students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in the area of creative problem solving. To foster further development through recognising achievement Venue: North Shore Development Centre schools: In New South Wales – Ashfield, Bankstown, Berala, Blacktown, Burwood, Cabramatta, Campbeltown, Castle Hill, Chatswood, Chinatown, Epping, Hurstville, Kogarah, Parramatta, Randwick, Rosebery & Wahroonga Format: A Written test of 40 Minutes duration (mostly multiple choice)
Awards: Individual as well as top school awards. The top three students in each group will
each receive prizes worth $500 for first, $200 for second and $100 for third, together with a
trophy and gifts. Winning schools will receive $500 worth of library books (of their
choice). Music Notices
Music Parking We have an upcoming parking for Park Life music event on Sunday 4 October (last week of the term) and will require plenty of volunteers from 10am – 6pm. Please let the Music Staff know if you are able to attend a few hours to assist (whole day not required) or email Debbie Dukes at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Lynda Brown: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Rock Band
Ensemble rehearsals
Holiday rehearsals
Music Tour 2010 Parents wishing to be involved and travel with/parallel to the tour need to contact Angas Travel (Jackie) as soon as possible as they need to make plane bookings for you. The 2nd instalment of $2000 is now OVERDUE, please make payments DIRECTLY to Angas Travel and they will provide us with receipt of payments. If you have not been able to arrange this, please see the Music Staff ASAP
Please Mail to: ANGAS Travel, 303 Angas St, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000 P&C: High Society
The Bulletin Board for Sydney Boys High P & C
Please note the October P & C Meeting is postponed and will now be combined with P & C
AGM in November
P & C Website
Volunteer Organisers Needed Please contact the P & C via gmail address - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it - or Julie Connolly This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you would like to be involved. No special skills are needed and most of the organising is done through email communications rather than face-to-face meetings.
New Parent Mentors In preparation for our intake of new students for 2010, Charles is seeking to recruit current parents to mentor our new parents. Ideally the majority of new parent mentors will have a son currently in Years 7 or 8 as they have the most recent experience to pass on to new parents of Year 7, 2010. However we welcome parents as mentors from all Years! Volunteers who speak a language other than English would also be terrific. Please contact Charles Ovadia directly This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you can volunteer as a New Parent Mentor. Thanks everyone.
Upcoming Parent Meetings & Events (details in High Notes) If you would like to have any parent community news or upcoming events included in High Society, please contact Julie Connolly, P&C President, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; 0418 470 203. National Art School coursesA range of art courses for students in years 9-12 is available from the National Art School. A flyer with information is available in the PDF version of the High Notes. For further details, see the Art Department SHS Basketball: Shootin' Hoops
Holiday Training Guide (Mainly for Juniors)
Egg-beater
Shooting
B alance the knees and stabilise the body with feet shoulder width Areas you should practise are: the free-throw line, the elbow and all around the key. Once you've achieved over 50% accuracy, practise some 3s. Also try different types of shots like jump shots and hook shots. Brought to you by David Li Wang and Chris Chiam SBHS Rowing Committee
BACK-TO–THE-SHEDS DAY Members of the mighty 1959 Sydney High Head of the River VIII will attend the day and speak with the fellowship of SHS Rowing 2009-10. All old boys, current rowers, and their families are invited to this special 50 year celebration regatta and shed barbecue. Regatta Events on the morning are:
SBHS CricketThe Term 3 vacation period is now upon us and at cricket many will be in pre-season practice and training mode over the holidays. The Opens Squads will move into camp this coming Saturday for three days of solid workouts and skills session. There is also a series of Trial matches that give us the opportunity to trial many players in match conditions. There will also be a Two day Cricket Clinic for our Years 7 and 8 cricketers, details for which appear herein. The schedule of Trial Matches and details of the Years 7/8 Cricket Clinics will be available on the cricket website. All players are urged to check to see what they can do cricket-wise over the break.
PLAYER REGISTRATIONS:
PROVISIONAL TEAM SQUADS
OPEN SQUAD CAMP I wish all of our trial lists at all levels my best wishes that they do well in their endeavours and achieve their goals.
SENIOR XIs and GROUP 1, QUALIFICATION
JUNIOR PLAYER CLINIC- YEARS 7 AND 8 School Student Transport Scheme
School Student Code of Conduct
Students are reminded to
During 2009, authorised officers will be deployed to inspect Code of Conduct compliance on school bus services in the Eastern Region. Students who are found to have breached their obligations may lose their travel entitlement and possibly incur an infringement. Wine Tasting FundraiserPlease join us for an afternoon of wine tasting and music in the Great Hall to raise funds for the 2010 music tour to France. Entry will be $10 at the door with a variety of wine and nibbles available, with around 30% of each wine order going toward the tour funds, so come along and invite your friends!
Sunday 18th October
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